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About Me

Cantankerous by nature, aspires to a genteel misanthropy. Interests include carpentry, organic gardening and sustainable living, history, genealogy, astronomy and paleontology, visual arts, lgbt activism. Caretaker for a brace of Scotties and several ungrateful, rescued cats. Addicted to watching sports and cheers for perennial losers. Education: I suppose, though some might think an MFA doesn\'t really qualify as such. Partnered for 24 years to a saint. Just lucky, I guess.

As if it isn't difficult enough to wean local Appalachian economies from a dependency on the coal industry, here's a blatant example of how the state govt. of Kentucky sabotages these efforts. I was so disgusted by this report I thought it worthy of posting to this forum. As an Appalachian born and bred, I am well aware of how the people and resources of Appalachia have been exploited and though we would all like to see a less coal-dependent economy (i.e., JOBS) in this region, it won't happen when the state diverts coal severance funds to renovate a basketball arena in Lexington.
The underlining below is mine.

Many Kentucky coalfield county leaders are upset after the state announced that 2.5 million dollars of this year’s coal severance money will go toward renovations of Rupp Arena in Lexington. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that many coal-producing counties, which rely on coal severance money to provide basic services, are being forced to slash budgets this year due to falling local coal production, and Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne Rutherford, for one, called this plan a “raid on our coal severance funds for their project.” The Kentucky General Assembly decided last year that the 2.5 million for Rupp Arena would come from Local Government Economic Development Fund, a pot of money within the coal severance fund specifically meant to help coalfield counties diversify their local economies through helping build businesses not affiliated with coal. Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo, of Prestonsburg, defended the plan, saying “Though Rupp is not in the coalfields, many believe it plays an important role in the state because of the tradition of the University of Kentucky basketball program.” He also said he hopes to get this money replaced back into the Coal Severance Fund after it’s spent. But many coalfield leaders are still upset, including Harlan County Judge-Executive Joe Grieshop, who said “I love UK basketball as much as anybody, but this wasn’t a good use of coal severance money.”